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Kimora Lee Simmons couldn't resist taking a shot at Lori Loughlin after her daughter got accepted to Harvard all on her own.

Russell Simmons' ex-wife just shared a video of their daughter, Aoki Lee Simmons, reading her acceptance letter into the Ivy League school ... with Kimora adding some not so subtle jabs at Lori and all the parents swept up in the college bribery scandal.

Kimora says she's proud of Aoki for getting accepted to Harvard on the strength of her own merit ... and not because she was on a bogus rowing team.

As we've reported ... Loughlin and her husband are facing criminal charges for allegedly paying $500,000 to have their 2 daughters designated as recruits for the crew team at USC -- despite the fact they did not actually participate in crew. Lori's daughters left USC after the scandal broke, and they could be banned from campus for life.

4:57 PM PT -- President Trump just blasted Jussie Smollett at a Grand Rapids, Michigan rally, telling the crowd, "How 'bout Chicago," which triggered a roar of boos. He said the widespread indignation over Jussie walking free was the only time he agreed with Mayor Rahm Emanuel. He called the case a national embarrassment.

The bizarre outcome of the Jussie Smollett case is now on President Trump's radar, and as federal investigations begin ... he's calling the dropping of the charges an "embarrassment" to the nation.

Trump's Thursday morning tweet storm included one about the sweet deal the Cook County State's Attorney's Office handed Smollett -- dropping the 16 felony counts for allegedly lying to police after he did 18 hours of charitable work last weekend.

POTUS said 2 federal agencies -- the FBI and the Department of Justice -- would be reviewing the "outrageous" case. It might seem like he's calling for the investigation, but the reality is the FBI and DOJ were already on the job.

Chicago's Fraternal Order of Police announced it had filed with the DOJ on Tuesday ... immediately following the announcement Jussie would not stand trial. The FBI's probe of the State's Attorney's decision was announced Wednesday afternoon.

While Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx has defended cutting Smollett loose -- calling it a typical outcome for anyone facing class 4 felonies -- public outcry has prompted the feds to get involved.

Trump's tweet makes it clear ... he still knows what gets ratings.

6:37 PM PT -- Donald Trump Jr. just threw some major shade at Avenatti at his father's political rally in Michigan, joking that Michael's presidential ambitions took a serious hit this week.

Junior jokes that Michael went from "Avenatti 2020 to Avenatti 20 to 25" ... clearly hoping his foe is going to prison for his role in the alleged extortion plot.

Michael Avenatti was loaded for bear Wednesday night, proclaiming his innocence in the extortion case, proclaiming that the R. Kelly case would be unaffected by the extortion case and proclaiming it's only a matter of time before top Nike execs would be led away in handcuffs.

We got the embattled celeb attorney in WeHo Wednesday night ... and we strolled along with him on a long, long walk ... where he unpacked his outrage.

Avenatti said all the talk that his indictment will torpedo the R. Kelly prosecution is BS ... because the evidence is the evidence is the evidence.

And then, he talked Nike. As you know, he's been accused of trying to extort the shoe co. for more than $20 million in return for keeping his silence on alleged misdeeds -- specifically, Nike secretly paid off the families of star high school basketball players in order to direct them to Nike-sponsored colleges.

He goes after Nike execs with a vengeance, saying they are corrupt to the core and it will be exposed. He also insists any money he may have demanded was not a quid pro quo for his silence. Avenatti says he was going to expose Nike regardless of whether the company paid him or not.

The U.S. Attorney claims he has a videotape from a March 21 meeting between Avenatti and Nike attorneys in which he allegedly says, "If [Nike] wants to have one confidential settlement and we're done, they can buy that for $22.5 million and we're done."

Tamar Braxton is falling back into mea culpa mode just days after putting her sister, Trina, on blast for daring to get engaged ... during Tamar's birthday celebration.

ICYMI ... Tamar went off Tuesday on Trina's fiance, Von, after he popped the question to Trina. Tamar's issue is his timing sucked. The proposal went down on what Tamar considered a continuation of her bday bash. Check out the vid, Tamar rants about crappy gifts and Trina stealing her shine.

Tamar's now saying, "Oops!" She took to Instagram and said, "Sometimes you get so caught up in 'ME' you f*** up not only your night, but others as well! Looking at the bigger picture, I'm so excited and happy for [Trina] and [Von.]"

She didn't paint such a rosy picture earlier this week. Sources close to the situation tell TMZ ... Tamar's blowup was completely unwarranted because, for starters, the family celebrated Tamar's birthday on Monday.

We're told they had a birthday cake with candles and sang "Happy Birthday" ... the whole 9 yards. The next day -- when Tamar went off -- the family once again had dinner together to discuss their show, "Braxton Family Values."

The family meeting was NOT supposed to be another birthday bash ... especially since Tamar's birthday was March 17. Our sources say because the family got together again, Von felt it was a good time to propose ... especially because it's rare to get everyone together in the same room.

Our sources say Trina and Von do NOT feel like they stole Tamar's thunder -- after all, she'd already had her party.

We're told it's all water under the bridge now. As for Trina and the ring ... it's a beaut -- the center stone's nearly 2 carats.

It's a deep oval cut featuring another carat of smaller diamonds on the band. Congrats!!!

Jussie Smollett's alleged "attack" is not over, because the City of Chicago is demanding $130,000 from the actor or else, but the actor has told Chicago officials to go pound sand.

The Chicago Corporation Counsel -- who handles civil claims for the City -- fired off a letter to Jussie demanding he pay the $130k, which represents, among other things, overtime pay for cops who investigated the case.

The Corporation Counsel writes, "Over two dozen detectives and police officers participated in the investigation, ultimately spending weeks investigating your false claims."

The letter goes on to say they have the goods, saying, "The Chicago police investigation revealed that you knowingly filed a false police report and had in fact orchestrated your own attack."

And, then comes the threat ... the City is demanding "immediate payment of the $130,106.15" within 7 days. If Jussie doesn't ante up, the Corporation Counsel vows to "prosecute you for making a false statement under the Municipal Code of Chicago." This is separate from the criminal case that was just dismissed.

The penalty is no jail, but a fine of no less than $500 ... but here's the deal -- the city could go after Jussie for 3 times the actual damages, or more than $390,000. Although the penalties are only monetary, it could amount to a finding by a judge or jury that Jussie faked the attack.

Jussie's response was immediate and clear ... a spokesperson told TMZ, "It is the Mayor and the Police Chief who owe Jussie an apology for dragging an innocent man's character through the mud. Jussie has paid enough."

As you know ... prosecutors in stunning fashion dropped Jussie's case earlier this week -- much to Mayor Rahm Emanuel's chagrin. Jussie surrendered his $10k bond, but that's it.

Jimmy Kimmel's good friend and famous chef, Adam Perry Lang, has been TOTALLY CLEARED in the crazy case involving explosives, a rifle and a girlfriend.

TMZ broke the story, Lang was staying at Kimmel's beachside home last January, when cops got a 911 call saying a man was inside the home with explosives and had assaulted his girlfriend with a rifle.

Cops swarmed the Hermosa Beach, CA home but Adam was sound asleep with his ringer off. Cops stayed for hours and when they finally roused him, they ordered him out of the house with his hands up.

Adam was arrested and taken to the station, where Jimmy came to bail him out. Adam insisted he did not make the call and that his cell phone records would back that up. Cops checked his cell phone and did not find a 911 call, but nevertheless pursued the case.

Olivia Culpo is back in her natural habitat on Miami Beach, but this time she's hittin' the sand without her on-again-off-again beau, Danny Amendola -- which you couldn't care less about right now.

The former Miss Universe made Thursday a sun day with some gal pals -- including model Devon Windsor -- but she stole the show with her red two-piece bikini. Olivia definitely seemed aware of the cameras too, since she got in tons of different positions ... as if she were doing an impromptu photo shoot.

It's interesting that Olivia's back in Miami without Danny, with whom she's been hot and cold since this past fall. He's no longer a Dolphin -- dude got shipped out to the Detroit Lions earlier this month. Bummer for him ... that's a lot less beach time with Olivia.

George Clooney is calling for a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of the Asian country of Brunei -- even the L.A. ones -- a week ahead of the day they'll start killing gay people by stoning.

The actor posted an impassioned open letter on Deadline Thursday, asking consumers not to do business with the 9 hotels owned by the autocratic country's ruler, Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, including the famed Beverly Hills Hotel, as well as the Hotel Bel-Air.

Clooney's plea with would-be hotel dwellers comes less than a week before the day Brunei as a nation will implement capital punishment on citizens who are proven to be gay or commit adultery. Those folks will be stoned to death.

That's no joke -- Brunei lives under Islamic sharia law ... one of the few countries in the world to do so.

Interestingly, Clooney notes that there was widespread outrage about this a couple years ago, and people successfully boycotted the two L.A.-area hotels ... if only for a short while. Now, he's asking for renewed attention in light of the looming deadline.

John Cena is back on the dating scene ... hanging with a mystery hottie in Canada and, apparently, putting his ex-fiancee Nikki Bella firmly in the rearview.

We got this shot of the WWE superstar out on the town with an unknown -- for now -- brunette in Vancouver, and they're clearly having a great time together. Not only were they cozied up, arm-in-arm together ... but the photo agency that spotted them says they enjoyed a 4-hour dinner date!!!

This was their post-meal stroll ... and a pretty romantic one at that.

John's in Vancouver filming a new project, "Playing With Fire." The timing of his new playmate's debut is interesting. We've been seeing Nikki in California hanging with her new bae, dancer Artem Chigvinsev.

We broke the story ... Nikki says she's NEVER getting back with John, and based on this pic ... he seems to be just fine with that.

President Trump heard the outrage loud and clear, 'cause he just announced that he will NOT seek to cut nearly $18 MILLION in funding from the Special Olympics.

Trump's Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos proposed cutting nearly every cent of funding to the organization earlier this week ... and people were PISSED.

TMZ Sports even spoke to WWE legend and Special Olympics ambassador -- Big Show -- who called the idea "bulls**t."

Now, Trump is putting an end to all that talk ... telling reporters at the White House that he's given the order to fund the organization -- like was originally planned.

“The Special Olympics will be funded," Trump said ... "I just authorized the funding of the Special Olympics. I have overridden my people.”

One of Jussie Smollett's "Empire" costars doesn't want to answer for pulling her support when things were hot ... especially now that the case has gone ice cold and been dropped.

We ran into Tasha Smith -- aka, Carol Hardaway (Jussie's aunt on the show) -- leaving Chelsea Studios in NYC Thursday, where our camera guy pointed out that she was one of many "Empire" stars who yanked their initial supportive IG posts when Jussie was arrested.

Of course, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office decided to drop the charges altogether just this week.

Before our photog can get around to a question, Tasha jumps in to jokingly berate him, asking why in the hell he'd ask that about her "family" ... and turns the question on him.

It's a pretty hilarious back-and-forth here -- which ends with her telling us to kiss it where the sun don't shine. And, while Tasha and our guy made peace by the end of it ... she skated around a serious question, and seems to be pulling back from her initial pull-back.

WWE superstar Jimmy Uso just caught a HUGE break in his disorderly conduct case -- he's essentially off the hook after allegedly squaring up to fight a police officer.

As we previously reported, Uso and his WWE superstar wife, Naomi, were pulled over in downtown Detroit on Feb. 13 after cops say Naomi was driving the wrong way down a 1-way street.

Cops say Naomi reeked of booze so they ordered her out of the car -- but Jimmy was allegedly trying to restrain her and prevent her from leaving.

Eventually, Naomi got out ... and Jimmy followed -- with cops saying the wrestler eventually took off his shirt and jacket and squared up as if he was about to fight.

Jimmy was eventually arrested and booked for disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice.

But, we've learned Uso and his attorney, John Freeman, struck a deal with prosecutors in which he agreed to plead no contest to interfering with a govt. employee -- and in exchange, he was ordered to pay $450 in fines.

That's it. Case closed.

It's a big deal considering Uso was facing jail time if convicted of disorderly conduct.

As for Naomi, she was neither arrested that night nor charged with a crime.

Jimmy Uso is a big deal in the pro wrestling world -- his father is WWE legend Rikishi and his cousins are The Rock and Roman Reigns.

The family of the puppy that died aboard an Air France-KLM jetliner marched into LAX demanding the airline return the animal's body, but ended up getting a total runaround ... all on camera.

The father of the family of four, Andranik Avetisian, and his attorney, Evan Oshan, walked right up to a KLM official Tuesday and demanded to know the dog's whereabouts. The official all but stonewalled Oshan, saying he would have to contact KLM's attorney.

Problem is ... it's been 9 days since Bear -- a Central Asian Shepherd -- was found dead in the cargo hold of the KLM flight from Amsterdam, and the family's gotten zero answers. Oshan says KLM isn't returning his phone calls.

We were with Andranik when he and Oshan went to LAX police, asking them to get KLM on the horn. You can see in the video ... all they got was more frustration.

As we first reported ... the family says Bear was healthy and heading to his new home in California. They're fighting to get the body, because they want an independent vet to perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death.

KLM tells us it's doing its own investigation. A rep for the airline says, "In cooperation with the local health authority in the US, the Center for Disease Control, the dog was initially examined to ensure there was no immediately obvious public health threat. The dog was loaded correctly according KLM's pet policy. We have to wait for the results of the necropsy to determine the cause of death."

12:08 PM PT -- Jenny Sushe -- along with Allred -- just addressed the media and said the boxer not only kissed her without consent, he also groped her butt after the interview.

After the interview, Sushe claims the boxer asked her to remove the kiss from the interview because he knew how it would play out in public, but she refused.

In a letter to the California State Athletic Commission, Allred says, "We hereby request that the commission conduct an immediate investigation into the serious allegations."

"We request that Mr. Pulov's boxing license be suspended."

The female reporter who was suddenly kissed by a boxer she was interviewing AFTER his fight has lawyered up ... hiring Gloria Allred to go after his ass.

The video went viral over the weekend -- showing 37-year-old Bulgarian heavyweight Kubrat Pulev planting a kiss on the mouth of reporter Jenny Sushe during a post-fight media session.

Following the incident, Pulev said the Vegas Sports Daily reporter is a "friend of mine" -- and he passed the whole thing off as no big deal.

"On the video, after our kiss, we both laughed about it and thanked each other," Pulev said ..."There really is nothing more to this."

Well, clearly Sushe thinks it's a big deal ... she's hired Allred and she's planning to take legal action against the boxer.

In fact, in classic Allred form ... the attorney is holding a press conference Thursday to announce the plan of attack.

Robert Kraft claims police surveillance footage showing him inside a Florida massage parlor is the result of an "unlawful sneak-and-peek search warrant" ... and he's demanding officials keep it under wraps.

Kraft has filed fiery new documents in his prostitution case in Palm Beach County -- slamming officials for putting hidden cameras inside of massage rooms as a ridiculous "governmental overreach."

"Florida resorted to the most drastic, invasive, indiscriminate spying conceivable by law enforcement -- taking continuous video recordings of private massages in which customers would be stripping naked as a matter of course -- in order to prosecute what are at most misdemeanor offenses."

Kraft says because we do not live in a police state -- and because government must answer to the rule of law -- the tapes must never go public.

The New England Patriots owner continues his attack ... saying, "Law enforcement had no satisfying justification for going to such extreme, invasive lengths just to investigate run-of-the-mill suspicion of solicitation."

Kraft says ... because of other evidence collected in the case -- including positive semen tests found in the spa's trash -- there was no need to plant the hidden cameras to "build a solicitation case around low-level consensual sex acts."

There's more ... Kraft also says the narrative about the sting operation targeting human trafficking is BS -- since officials have no real facts proving human trafficking ever occurred at the Orchids of Asia Day Spa visited by Kraft. In fact, the attorney for the spa's manager -- who was also arrested -- talked about law enforcement's lack of human trafficking evidence Thursday morning after his client's bail was reduced.

As Kraft says in his motion, "Law enforcement peddled these falsehoods to try and manufacture a patina of necessity [to put cameras in the massage rooms], where none exists."

Kraft is facing 2 misdemeanor counts of soliciting a prostitute during 2 visits to the spa in January. Officials say surveillance footage shows the 77-year-old receiving sex acts from spa employees in exchange for money.